Market Currents

• Tuesday, November 17, 2009

• 08:15 AM Lazard (LAZ) names Kenneth M. Jacobs - formerly head of Lazard North America - as Chairman and CEO. "We unanimously selected Mr. Jacobs based on the balance of his vision, intellect and dynamism, his creativity building new businesses, his skills as a trusted advisor, collaborator and team leader, as well as his track record of client focus, growth, and operational excellence." 1 Comment

• Tuesday, November 10, 2009

• 12:46 PM Sources say investment banking powerhouse Lazard (LAZ) may pick more than one person to lead the firm in the wake of CEO Bruce Wasserstein's death last month, which left the firm "in a bit of a lurch as far as successors." Comment!

• Wednesday, October 28, 2009

• 07:55 AM Lazard (LAZ): Q3 EPS of $0.41 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $431M (-1.3%) vs. $400M. Believes corporate defaults will remain at high levels, on a more global scale than during the last cycle, and therefore expects that its restructuring business will continue to be very active. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable pre-market earnings: ASH, BWA, CCE, CHINA, CNP, COP, EPD, GD, GT, HES, IP, IPG, JNY, LAZ, LVLT, MWV, NWL, NXY, NYB, OC, PEG, PX, Q, SAP, SEPR, SO, SPIL, SPW, UMC, WLP, WYN Comment!

• Friday, October 23, 2009

• 13:00 PM In a substantial (if not the most surprising) move, Lazard (LAZ) changes the base currency of its World Trust Fund from dollars to pounds. Or, as a commenter says, "leaving the Titanic and jumping into Lusitania": Sterling now -1.8% against dollar, -1.9% against euro, -1.6% against Swiss franc, -1.1% against yen. 2 Comments

• Thursday, October 15, 2009

• 14:35 PM The dealmaking landscape won't be the same with Bruce Wasserstein's early exit, David Weidner writes - and he leaves unfinished business not only with Kraft and Cadbury, but at Lazard (LAZ), which was gearing up for a new M&A wave. Comment!

• Wednesday, October 14, 2009

• 17:55 PM Lazard (LAZ) shares down 2% AH after resuming trading in the wake of the death of CEO Bruce Wasserstein. The company names Steven Golub interim CEO. Comment!
• 15:52 PM Lazard (LAZ +4.3%) CEO Bruce Wasserstein dies. (WSJ) Shares are halted. Comment!

• Monday, October 12, 2009

• 16:56 PM Lazard (LAZ) finished the day off 1.2% after chairman and CEO Bruce Wasserstein was hospitalized over the weekend for 'serious' heartbeat irregularity. Wasserstein, 61, is personally leading the team advising Kraft (KFT) on its $16B takeover bid for Cadbury (CBY). Comment!

• Tuesday, September 29, 2009

• 11:49 AM Well informed sources say French food giant Danone (DANOY.PK) has hired Lazard (LAZ) to work on a possible bid for Mead Johnson (MJN +14.7%), creating the world's largest milk formula producer and building on its $16.8B purchase of Dutch infant food company Numico two years ago. Comment!

• Sunday, September 27, 2009

• 08:47 AM Sources say Kraft (KFT) is putting the finishing touches on an £11B hostile cash-and-stock bid for Cadbury (CBY). Financing is being organized by Kraft's advisors, Citigroup (C), Deutsche Bank (DB) and Lazard (LAZ); with $18B in debt, Kraft will have to tread carefully or risk losing its investment grade credit rating. Comment!

• Wednesday, September 9, 2009

• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: ENCO +333%. VVUS +54%. HITK +17%. TLB +11%. TITN +10%. FIG +7%. ATPG +8%. SRZ +7%. ARNA +6%. HL +4%. ETFC +4%. ABB +4%. OREX +4%.
  Losers: PBY -8%. PALM -6%. MYL -5%. LAZ -4%. 1 Comment

• Tuesday, August 18, 2009

• 12:39 PM IPOs on the rebound? Lazard (LAZ +3.5%) has hired away Thomas Tuft of Goldman Sachs (GS) - who advised Lazard on its 2005 initial public offering - to advise Lazard clients on their IPOs. 2 Comments

• Tuesday, April 28, 2009

• 07:15 AM Lazard (LAZ): Q1 EPS of $0.26 misses by $0.57. Revenue of $273M (-20%) vs. $342M. "We have accelerated our major global hiring initiative at the senior level. We are reinforcing our areas of strength, investing in areas of growth, developing new products, containing costs and maintaining liquidity, in order to take advantage of current and future opportunities. Our planning is to have significantly improved revenues during the second half of the year." (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable earnings before Tuesday's open: AG, AMB, AVY, BDX, BEN, BMS, BMY, BP, CCE, CE, COL, CVH, ECL, ELNK, EME, FMER, FPL, HCP, HL, HSP, IPG, LAZ, LVLT, MHP, NXY, ODP, PCAR, PCH, PCZ, PFE, PMTC, SMG, TLAB, VLO, VSH, WAT, WDR Comment!

• Monday, December 1, 2008

• 14:17 PM Big banks (C, CS, JPM, UBS) are trying to muscle away M&A business from their boutique rivals (LAZ). Comment!